


soon you'll get better

by adellamuriel



Series: holding out for a hero [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Jason Todd is Robin, Mentioned Alfred Pennyworth, Mentioned Bruce Wayne, POV Jason Todd, Smol Jason Todd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 20:38:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20913761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adellamuriel/pseuds/adellamuriel
Summary: whenever jason todd meets the doctor his life changes.





	soon you'll get better

He had been kicked out of his house again by his parents.

Pa would often kick him out when he had his friends over. Jason always found himself in the Library reading. He had tried playing with the other children on the block but they’d bullied him, calling him runt and midget. He had tried to fight back like his Pa had taught him but he ended up hurt.

Going to the Library, allowed him to run away from the endless problems of growing up in Crime Alley with all the crooks and the murderers. Batman hardly came to this part of Gotham, it was dangerous. The Library, though run down was like going to another world.

There were endless number of books that he read and look at the pretty pictures. His favourites were the stories of mythological heroes such as Perseus and Jason, like Wonder Woman they were amazing. Jason had tried to get into the mature section of the library but the librarian would find him and push towards kid-friendly books.

He liked the Librarian, even though he was a little bit strange. He called himself the Doctor. When Jason had asked him about his real name, the Doctor had smiled and changed the subject, Jason stopped asking afterwards. Jason liked talking to the Doctor who would often be ranting about the oddest subjects like historical records that were incorrect. With the Doctor, Jason laughed so hard that it was hard to breathe.

The Doctor taught him so much; Jason was not allowed to go to school and it hurt because he wanted to learn and play with other kids his age but with the Doctor, he learned a lot and he had a friend.

It was fun.

Jason often found himself looking forward to days where he would meet the Doctor. He was an unusual sight and didn’t fit the look of Crime Alley at all. The Doctor was posh, and yet unlike the stereotypical posh person. He hasn’t met any posh people but he’s read about them in books and he hasn’t turned his nose upwards and scrunch his nose in disgust at the Doctor like he had at them.

The Doctor’s appearance was weird; he always wore the same type of clothing. It was like he did not have any other clothes. But he still always looked clean. His outfit didn’t even match, it was uneven. Jason had pointed it out to the Doctor and he didn’t care. The Doctors clothes consisted of a long brown trench coat, with a blue suit underneath and red trainers.

It was weird, and the Doctor loved it. He would bring in weird outfits to show off to Jason. He even brought outfits for Jason. He told the Doctor adamantly that he disliked the clothes that the Doctor brought in. He was seven he didn’t want to look like someone from the 1600s, but secretly he loved the clothes and was saddened when the Doctor took them away.

The Doctor may be an adult, but he was Jason’s only friend. Jason found that he didn’t care that the Doctor was an adult, he was better than his actual Dad who was mean and he hurt Jason.

Jason soon found himself at the Library, calling out to the Doctor excitedly Jason expected the Doctor to call out like he normally did. They had a secret message that they both had come up with. Jason waited for the Doctor to call out but he never did, it was highly unusual for the Doctor to ignore Jason.

His friend sometimes did not make it on time but he always made sure to come in at the end of the day. Not worried, Jason went to the bookshelves and chose the story of Perseus to read all over again.

The Doctor would show up.

He always did.

* * *

Living on the streets at the age of ten was hard. Jason’s parents were both gone, his dad left him years ago. Jason guessed that he was in prison. His parents never outright told him but he was ten and smart and could read in between the lines. His dad was a crook and his mum a drug addict who had overdosed. Jason didn’t have an adult figure in his life.

Jason used to dream about a life where the Doctor would come and take him away. That he would whisk Jason away on his adventures. Thinking about the Doctor hurt. His friend had left him alone.

He was forced to steal in order to survive, and knowing where all the crooks and bad guys lived allowed Jason to avoid them. He made sure to avoid those types of areas where all the crooks congregated, and areas under the Bats protection. He rather live on the streets then taken in to live in an orphanage where crooks and thieves visited taking children away.

Jason had run away after his mom died and had been living on the streets. Jason had a spot that he would sleep and often he would visit the library where he had met the Doctor. Finding food was hard and sometimes Jason would go hungry but Jason eventually would find more food. Just enough to scrape by.

He would make money by stealing wallets from the pockets of passing people. Jason only stole from the rich. He was a little robin hood, stealing money from the rich to give to the poor.

He knew all of the streets and alleys, so he was able to run away from those who chased him, intent on reclaiming what he’d stolen. He was small so he would hide in the smallest of cracks, they were never able to catch him. Jason would wait there, till they all went home before he came out.

He had done this so many times that it was second nature to him. Now currently hiding away, Jason was waiting making sure that the man he had stolen his wallet had left. His legs cramped and his hands were turning blue from the harsh cold air of the winter.

He still carried on waiting. He told himself that in ten minutes he’ll leave the crack. The crack was tiny and cramped, and almost too tight a space to hide in. It made Jason think about his weird and quirky friend. He was bitter towards the Doctor, who had promised he would not leave Jason alone. That he would stay with Jason.

Eventually, like all the other adults in his life, the Doctor had left.

Quickly checking to see if he was in the clear and left the small hole in the wall. Hands dug deep into his pockets with the stolen money, he made his way towards the library. Jason now lived there, when the Doctor had left so did everyone else and the library had eventually shut down.

Jason had made the now abandoned library his home. The apartment that he had lived in with his parents was immediately resold by the landlord and, not wanting to live in the orphanage, Jason went to the place that brought back good memories.

The Library.

He had placed chains around the doors to prevent unwanted attention, intent on making it seem that the library was like any other abandoned building.

Checking his surroundings Jason made sure he was alone, sliding the key into the lock and turning it till there was a satisfying click. He returned the key to his pocket and went into the old and run-down building.

Inside the library there was an ugly looking blanket and some old pillows – they had been some of his old possessions from his apartment, it brought back memories of his parents. They had been his parents at times. But that was before Willis became a henchman for a crooked boss and his mum, Catherine, had become a drug addict and was high more often than not. As a life it hadn’t been perfect, but it was better than nothing.

Before, they had gone to bed with food in their stomachs, until Willis had disappeared then Catherine had to provide and she got sick too often, so Jason had provided for the family of two. At times it hadn’t been easy, but he still had his mum. Then she died from a drug overdose.

It had been hard to see his childhood home given away, the landlord did not care about Jason and hadn’t even tried to place him in an orphanage. So he did the only thing that he could.

He hid.

He’s carried on hiding and they still haven’t found him. Even though it’s been three years Jason, still carried on hiding in an abandoned library. The system would have failed Jason, there was a reason why he still hasn’t gone to the Police.

Hiding in the Library had been the best place, hardly anyone had visited the library in this area. To busy being illegal, Jason made this his safe place. Reading books kept Jason entertained for days when he was not out. It wasn’t perfect but it was home, he stocked as much food as he could even though there was no microwave or an oven.

Jason has now started reading books that were mature for his age. His current favourite was anything to do with Greek mythology, he how some of the stories started with normal people who did normal things and they went on the adventure. This is why Wonder Woman is his favourite superhero.

His favourite of all the tales was the story of Theseus.

Most nights Jason ended up reading the same story. Today was the same, reading the same story of Theseus defeating the minotaur and saving his Father’s home from sending more tributes to the maze.

The lights in the library were turned off and Jason was in his bed with his flashlight, and was reading the story of Theseus for what might be the millionth time. He read for what seemed like forever, the pages consuming his imagination until he heard a noise of engine coming from the inside of the library.

It was a sound that Jason has never heard. Jason ran away quickly, as far away from the sound as he could, and he hid behind the bookcases crouching down so he was hidden away, but could still see an old blue police box materialise in front of him.

Recognising the telephone box from old newspapers cut-outs that the library stores. He was going to examine the odd sight in front of him, when the police box opened up and out came a man.

The Doctor.

He still looked the same, he was still wearing the red trainers with a long trench coat. Jason wanted to run up to the Doctor and shout and hug and punch him; but he couldn’t move.

Why couldn’t he move. He wanted to run towards the Doctor but his feet were glued to the floor and his legs were shaking. The Doctor paid no attention to Jason and started to run towards the door and unlocked it with a device. It made a strange sound and left.

Jason followed the Doctor, hiding behind walls so the Doctor wouldn’t see him. So many questions were running through his head that needed to be answered. Why did the Doctor leave him without any indication, had Jason done something wrong?

The Doctor came to a standstill by a wall and started feeling around it, taking a stethoscope out even.

Jason was confused but he carried on watching the Doctor as he listened with the stethoscope, until the Doctor must have heard what he needed to because he looked excited.

Jason couldn’t help it, he giggled. He remembered when the Doctor would act like this. It was funny; it brought back good memories. The Doctor started running again and Jason followed him, running as far as his little legs could take him; Jason was catching up until the Doctor turned into one of the alleys and Jason lost him.

Jason looked around the alley, trying to find the Doctor; it was like he had disappeared in thin air touching the walls like he saw the Doctor do beforehand. Damn it, he needed a stethoscope like the Doctor, Jason knew that the Doctor wasn’t like him – human. The Doctor didn’t seem like one of those bad aliens like he used to see on TV.

The Doctor reminded Jason of a superhero like Wonder Woman.

Lingering in the alley, kept Jason occupied. He was waiting for the Doctor to come out of his hiding spot, it must have been hours before he decided to leave. Disappointed Jason started to leave until he heard an explosion. Jason whirled around to run back and make sure the Doctor was okay, only to run straight into him.

They both fell to the ground, Jason stare at the Doctor. All the stuff that he wanted to stay to the Doctor wasn’t passing his lips, he couldn’t get it out, why couldn’t he get it out-

…the Doctor was literally right in front of him.

The Doctor was saying something but Jason couldn’t hear him. The Doctor frowns, quickly turning around blocking Jason’s view of the thing behind him that had caused the explosion. The Doctor quickly got up and pulled Jason up with him and started running.

Jason tried to look back, to see just what monster they were running from but the Doctor wouldn’t let him. They were going to come to a dead end. Jason knew it was a dead end, when he had first started stealing, he had run into this alley and had nearly gotten beaten up.

Jason turned left and led the Doctor to a crack big enough to fit both of them. The thing that had been chasing them started to claw at the wall and Jason started to scream. The Doctor covered his mouth with his hand started playing with a device, turning it on and Jason heard an explosion from the next alley up.

When the monster left them alone, Jason was so relieved he hugged the Doctor. The Doctor patted his back awkwardly, acting as if he didn’t know Jason.

Embarrassed, Jason glared at the Doctor foot “I missed you.” Jason admitted, he could feel himself blushing.

Jason glanced up at the Doctor, who was ignoring Jason. He punched the Doctor in leg, before reaffirming his statement.

“You left me, after you promised me you wouldn’t.”

The Doctor looked confused.

“What!” He exclaimed.

Jason explained that they met three years ago in the library and that the Doctor was the Librarian, and then the Doctor looked more confused, even asking why would did he become a Librarian. 

Jason heard another explosion and other loud noises. And even though Jason would never admit he was scared the sound made him jump. The Doctor quickly patted Jason and started to leave. The Doctor turned back

“Jason, some point in my time I’m going to meet you. I cannot wait to see what the future upholds in meeting you.” The Doctor smiled, “I promise to come back.”

Jason nodded, quickly rubbing his face. He wasn’t crying, Jason Todd was not a baby.

Jason nodded. The Doctor left. And he was all alone. Again.

* * *

The Doctor came back to where he had met Jason. The child was interesting and he wondered why his future self was invested in the child. The Doctor had lived a long life and met many people and lost them. After Rose, it had become hard to meet new people.

Jason was a child, so it was different. Jason was different, his future-self saw to that and the Doctor was interested to what Jason would be like. The Doctor started walking to where he had met Jason and he wasn’t there.

He carried on walking, Jason was a child he would be easy to find, last time he saw the child he was wearing all red. It would be easy to pick him out.

Walking around Gotham, The Doctor found himself enjoying the city. He took note of the walking people each enjoying their day but there was a tenseness around each pedestrian. The city though beautiful was dangerous. The city itself was dangerously brilliant and its protector even more so.

Batman was a relic and continued to be so in the future, 100 years on and the legacy of Batman continued to live; many heroes based their moral codes off of Batman. The Doctor himself had ran with the later versions of the Bat. Not the original, never the original.

Walking the Doctor caught sight of a newspaper article, grabbing it from the person's hand, he ignored the person that he had taken the newspaper from the Doctor read.

Jason Todd had been adopted by Bruce Wayne.

In the sense, the Doctor felt a little bit disappointed. The Doctor had only been gone for three days; humans moved so quickly. The Doctor didn’t want to leave Jason, so he decided he would secretly watch the child. He wanted to know why his future was invested in the child.

* * *

Jason was eleven when he met the Doctor again. At the ball that his adopted father regularly threw, Jason was annoyed. His cheeks had been pinched and been compared to Dick Grayson.

It was annoying, guest loved to compare the two even though Dick was sixteen and Jason was eleven they loved to throw their difference in his face. It was frustrating, and little bit humiliating. He didn’t want to tell Bruce because he didn’t want to disappoint him. He needed to do better than Dick, he wanted to do better than Dick.

It was hard. Everywhere he went he was constantly compared, even the villains compared them. He had tried to act like he didn’t care, but it still stung.

What made it worse was Dick didn’t even like him and the socialites could see it and they revelled in the conflict between sons of Bruce Wayne. They thought him to be a street rat, and it wasn’t like they were entirely wrong.

Being Bruce Wayne’s son hardly stopped them from making sly comments about his background and sniggering and Jason blushing in both anger and embarrassment, he reigned in his temper because the last thing he needed was a lecture from Bruce, or worse: Alfred.

Jason often found himself by the appetiser table in a corner away from the socialites who would seek him out. When they couldn’t fine him, they normally turned back to Bruce and Dick.

He was bored, Jason could not do much during events and did not like socialising with the other children. Jason noticed he was being approached from the side, remembering his etiquette turned to greet the other person.

He soon found himself looking at the Doctor.

Jason hasn’t seen the Doctor since he been adopted, he often thought about him but squashed them down, he was happy living with Bruce. The Doctor was wearing a suit, and in all the times that Jason had known the Doctor, he had never seen him where a formal non-mismatched suit.

He looked weird. Weirder than normal.

The Doctor smiled at him and Jason smiled back and started laughing. It was loud, they both started laughing loudly. It felt good.

“Are you happy?” The Doctor asked Jason. He thought back the past year, it hadn’t been easy adjusting to living into a new life and being “high class” as the old harpies that attended these events called it, but he learned and he wouldn’t change anything.

He loved Bruce, Alfred and even Dick. They were his family now. So, Jason nodded. The Doctor smiled; Jason could tell that the Doctor was happy for him. They both spent the rest of the event talking to each other catching up with each other.

When the event ended, he didn’t want the Doctor to go but the Doctor promised he would be back.

“I’m holding you to that promise.” He said and they shook on it. Jason went to bed happy, finally surrounded with a family he dreamt of dreams for the future and what it entails.

* * *

Jason swung away from Batman, “Robin!” his father called him, and Jason ignored him. He carried on swinging until reached his destination – the library.

Bruce could sometimes be infuriating, and Batman was worse. Jason was happy with living with Bruce and honestly, he thanked the Lord that he was there, however whenever they were on the streets as Batman and Robin or even sparring Jason was compared to the previous Robin.

Even villains compared him to Dick Grayson, the other day Slade Wilson made fun of him stating that that he was nothing in comparison to the previous Robin. When opportunities came to take villains down in his own way, he was called rough and violent. Nothing like Dick Grayson. And in the eyes of every other cape, that was bad.

Tonight, their fights were no different to the previous ones. Verbally battering each other endlessly. Jason had been called the same old violent, vicious and Batman even threatened to take away Robin from him. Jason had left afterwards, not willing to fight with Bruce even more.

Batman knew Jason secret location, but knew not to bother him so soon after an argument. Jason had told Bruce about the Doctor. Bruce had nodded but no more had been said, afterwards, Jason had been forced to see a therapist. Jason never brought up again – hurt that Bruce didn’t believe him.

Finding himself in the library, or what used to be a library . It had been refurbished when Jason had moved in with Bruce. He still called it a library. It had been the first place that Jason had met the Doctor. It had been the place that Jason life changed.

Every time Jason had met the Doctor things change in his life, some bad but others better. The first time Jason had met the Doctor his Pa l went to jail and his Mum became a drug addict. The Second time, Jason got adopted by Bruce and the third time, he became Robin.

Jason wondered the next time he’ll see the Doctor, how would his life change.

* * *

“Robin!” He had done something wrong, **again**. He could do everything right and still Nightwing would find something wrong in his behaviour.

“Yes Nightwing,” he replied rolling his eyes whilst also dodging an attack from the alien. They were on a mission in space with the Titans. He was on a team with Nightwing and everyone else who hated his guts.

He had worked with the Titans before; they were either too young to work with so he didn’t gel with them or the older ones preferred working with Dick Grayson. At the age of fifteen, Jason could do all types of wrong and he would get called out about it.

It didn’t help that the Justice League had left the earth and before they had gone Bruce and Jason had yet another nasty fight. Bruce had tried to take Robin away from him this time.

By chance, the Justice League had called and they left, tensions still high from the fight that they had. Afterwards, the Titans were needed to handle a problem in space, Jason had snuck into the mission ignoring Alfred and going ahead.

Nightwing had not been impressed in fact he was pissed. Jason hadn’t cared, the twenty-two year couldn’t boss him around. So, in the end, he was stuck on Nightwing, Kori and Kid Flash’s team. Everything had been going fine until, he had stupidly tripped over something, next thing you know a hoard of aliens were chasing them.

Nightwing and Kid Flash had shared a look. Jason tried to catch on but he couldn’t understand what they were saying but he knew it was about him. They both nodded in agreement and Jason found himself forcefully moved by Kid Flash to a corner and told to hide so they could finish the mission.

He had wanted to argue but Kid Flash had zipped forward. Leaving Jason to his own devices. He started to scout the area looking for potential enemies.

He didn’t delve too far away from the spot that he had been placed in but it was boring. The fight was taking too long, he could help them end it, but he was a hindrance to them. Jason carried on searching, looking for anything to end the fight, even if there was a kill switch that he could use to help.

Leaving the corner he’d been shoved into wasn’t that difficult and Jason soon found himself in an open corridor. Brightly lit, Jason found himself in a spacious corridor, remembering his training, Jason started to move slowly towards one of the doors.

Jason kept track of his surrounding, looking over his shoulder to make sure he was alone. He didn’t want to get told off by Nightwing again, so when something crept up behind him, he attempted to kick it.

Only to realise it was the Doctor and stop.

“What are you doing here?” He hissed not impressed, Jason circled the Doctor double checking there was nothing behind. The Doctor was a civilian and needed to be protected.

The Doctor unconcerned, “I saw you go onto the ship and wanted to say hello.” Jason stopped and actually stared at the Doctor unapologetically for a while. The Doctor started waving his hand in front of Jason face.

Slapping the Doctor hand away, Jason glared for a bit and the Doctor held his stare unapologetic until the Doctor started laughing and Jason laughed as well. He could hear Nightwing ask in his ear who was he speaking too and to stop laughing.

Coughing slightly, to stop him laughing he answered Nightwing question saying everything was fine.

“It’s a big ship, you could easily get lost.” Said the Doctor, waving his hands in the air the Doctor continued “I’m guessing your looking for the kill switch to end this.”

Hard to speak, Jason nodded.

“Come on then Robin.” Said the Doctor leading the way and Jason followed. The Doctor carried on speaking, asking Jason questions he was happy to answer.

Annoyed with the constant string of questions asked by Nightwing he took out his earpiece and threw it to the ground. He carried on with the Doctor. The doctor led Jason to the control room where he pointed his sonic device to the machines. They exploded.

And there was fire.

It was almost too much. He couldn’t hear anything, his vision of the Doctor’s face had started to fade and then suddenly, it went black.

* * *

Jason woke up on a floor and saw the Doctor across from him controlling the ship. The Doctor seeing Jason awake rushed to his side and helped him up and asked how he was.

“I’m fine really.” He said for the umpteenth time. The Doctor sat him down in the kitchen area and gave some tea. Not as good as Alfred’s but still good. “What happened after I fainted.”

The Doctor explained how he fainted because of the alien technology he didn’t understand but he nodded as if he understood the alien technology, “then I dragged you onto my ship.”

The question about the Titans was on the tip of his tongue, “don’t worry about the Titans they all made their way of the ship.” Said the Doctor.

The Doctor carried on “you know this is a time machine.” Jason knew where this was going “and I could return you to the Titans or you could come with me and see Shakespeare.”

“I can’t say no to Shakespeare.” Said Jason agreeing, it was a time machine, he would see Bruce and Alfred in a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow my tumblr: [adella muriel](https://adellamuriel.tumblr.com/)  
Beta Reader: [rivkae](https://rivkae-winters.tumblr.com/)


End file.
